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Press Release May 2003Coins of Genoa and Milan Auction 9/10 June 2003The sale of Italian coins and medals in Milan on 9 and 10 June will include a comprehensive group of coins of Milan, from the time of Charlemagne in the late 8th century to the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in the mid 19th century. The majority of the coins come from a collection formed between the two World Wars by a Milanese who kept careful records of his purchases. The coins were aquired from the dealers Ratto, Dotti, Franchesci and Gallia, as well as several purchases recorded as at the ‘Fiero San Ambrogio’. The prices range from 1-Lira for a Centesimo of Napoleon I, to 2,500-Lire for a Mezzo-Ducatone or Mezzo-Scudo d’argento of Filippo II dated 1562, showing San Ambrogio on horseback on the reverse. A selection from over 350 lots is illustrated below. The sale also includes some extremely fine coins of the Kingdom of Italy including some great rarities, and approx. 100 lots of medals, including medals of the House of Savoy and of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Highlights of these will be featured in a separate preview in the near future. 1. A silver Denaro of Charlemagne (774-814). His name is written in large stylised letters over the obverse of the coin while on the reverse is a curious monogram of REX and MED. Charlemagne became king of the Lombards in 774 after a long and bitter struggle.2. A silver Denaro of Louis I ‘the Pius’ (814-840), the oldest son of Charlemagne. The coin is of the more familiar small cross type. The reverse clearly spells out the city’s name, MEDIOLANVM, the city ‘in the middle of the plain’. 3 A silver Ambrosino of the First Republic (1250-1310). During this troubled period the Visconti family became the dominant power in Milan. The city patron, Saint Ambrose, makes his first appearance on the coinage. 4. A gold Fiorino of Barnabo and Galeazzo II Visconti (1354-78). The two brothers ruled as joint Signori very successfully. The former was a mediaeval style warrior of great power, while the latter was an astute Renaissance administrator. 5. A rare gold Fiorino of Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1378-1402). The son of Galeazzo II, Gian galeazzo ruled as Signore from the death of his father in 1378 until 1395 when he became Duke, a title given to him and his descendants by the incompetent Holy Roman Emperor Wenceslaus IV. He was brilliantly successful at extending Milanese rule over his neighbours, dominating the whole of Northen Italy including Asti, Bologna, Pisa, Genoa, Lucca and Verona. He might well have created something approaching an Italian Kingdom, but suddenly died of the plague in 1402. 6. A very rare silver Grosso of Giancarlo Visconti, the last legitimate descendant of Barnabo Visconti. Coins in his name were struck during just one month in 1412. The obverse shows the Viper, or Biscia, the famous emblem of the Visconti family. 7. An attractive Renaissance portrait on a gold Ducato of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (1466-76). The famous son of Italy’s most successful mercenary leader Francesco Sforza, Galeazzo Maria was dissolute, depraved, and probably a little mad. He was assassinated by three nobles on the Feast of St Steven, 26 December 1476, while attending mass in the church of St Stefano in Milan. 8. A very rare appearance of a woman ruler on an Italian coin. A silver Testone of Bona of Savoy who acted as regent (1476080) for her son Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza. Bona was not a great success and was expelled from Milan by her own family. Her coins are the only circulating coins of the Renaissance period to show a female portrait. 9. A typical Renaissance portrait of the young Gian Galeazzo Maris Sforza (1476-94) on a gold Ducato. The young Duke, a charming and educated Renaissance Prince, was a political nonentity. His coinage however is superb, the quality of the designs reflecting the great flowering of the visual arts in Milan in the age of Bramante and Leonardo da Vinci. 10. Two Renaissance portraits for the price of one! A Testone of Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza showing the young Duke on the obverse and, on the reverse, his uncle, Ludovico Maria Sforza, known as ‘Il Moro’ on account of his dark complexion. Ludovico acted as Regent (1480-94), and became Duke (1494-98) on the death of Gian Galeazzo. 11. The most powerful Holy Roman Emperor since Charlemagne, Charles V (1535-56) is here depicted in classical armour and wearing a laurel crown. On the reverse Pietas makes an offering. This silver medallic ‘Testone’ was struck by the Senate of Milan as a mark of homage to the great Emperor. It was designed by the famous artist and medallist Leone Leoni. 12. A very Mezzo Scudo d’argento of Filippo II (1556-98). Dated on the reverse 1562, this coin shows the Spanish king Phillip II wearing the typical decorated armour of the day, including the massive Spanish ‘Morrion’ helmet which gives the coin its nick-name ‘dal Morione’. The depiction on the reverse of Saint Ambrose on horseback is also unusual. 13. A Doppia de la due (a double Doppia or Quadrupla) dated 1630 of Filippo IV of Spain. These small but heavy gold coins (this example weighs 13.18g.), are evidence that Milan is now merely a part of a large and wide-flung empire. 14. A Doppia Due of 1779 of Maria Teresa (1740-80). 150 years later than the previous coin, and still the city of Milan remains part of the Austrian Hapsburg’s dominions 15. The silver Scudo of the Cisalpine Rpublic (1797-1802). The arrival of the French, bringing their revolutionary doctrines, finally ‘liberated’ Milan, and most of Northern Italy, from Austrian domination. This attractive piece, dated anno VIII (1800), celebrates the armistice of Alessandria 16 June 1800, after Napoleon’s famous victory at Marengo on 14 June. 16. The familiar features of Napoleon I, Emperor of France and King of Italy (1805-14) on a 5-Lire of 1814 from the Milan mint. The Italian states soon discovered they had shrugged off one foreign ruler only to have another take his place. 17. The end of an era. This extremely rare copper coin, a 15-Centesimi of 1852, remained a ‘progetto’ of the Milan mint which was never put into circulation. By the treaty of Villafranca in 1859 the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph ceded the Austrian kingdom of Lombardy to the House of Savoy and the Kingdom of Italy was soon to be born. The first time an example of this great rarity was offered at auction was as recently as 1968.
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